September 4, 2019

When Amer Fakhoury entered Lebanon through the Rafic Hariri International Airport, the Lebanese General Security detained his American passport under the impression of a routine background check. He was told that this was “typical procedure” and that he can come back on the 11th to retrieve his passport. He was allowed to then leave the airport and enjoy the start of his vacation with his wife and two of his daughters, Zoya and Macy. The family started their vacation by first reconnecting with old friends and seeing family that they had not seen for 20 years. They then continued their vacation touring downtown Beirut and then visiting St. Charbel’s Monastery as well as Our Lady of Lebanon, a pilgrimage site in Lebanon.

On September 11th at 10:00 am, Amer Fakhoury went to retrieve his American passport at the General Security of Lebanon. Once he arrived, he was told his appointment was canceled and that he needed to come back the next day. He asked if anything was wrong and was reassured that everything was fine except that it was a busy day for them and that Amer’s file was just not ready yet.

September 12, 2019

The next day came and Amer and his family woke up to an article from Al Akhbar, a Hezbollah backed newspaper, stating false information about Amer Fakhoury and his background. Amer still went to the General Security for his appointment to pick up his passport but was puzzled as to why Hezbollah would release these false claims about him. After Amer left, he never returned. After hours of waiting for his return, the family then contacted the U.S Embassy in order to intervene and figure out where Amer was. They were not able to locate him until 48 hours later.

During this time, Amer was severely tortured, abused, and was forced to sign false documents. They dragged him to a small, dirty room infested with bugs and insects. They left him there for 24 hours without access to food or clean water. After heavy pressure from the U.S embassy, as well as Senator Jeanne Shaheen, Amer was transferred to the Lebanese Military Prison where his lawyer was given permission to see him. Amer was not in a good state; he was beaten and bruised and had what was later confirmed to be a broken rib-cage.

Amer was kept in a prison with unsanitary conditions, was given minimal food, and was treated maliciously. Two weeks after his detention, he developed severe stomach pain and was unable to lay down. The prison doctor dismissed Amer’s complaints and did not report his pain. After 2 months in the prison, his lawyer reported that Amer was looking significantly underweight and that he needed to be diagnosed. By the time the prison guards decided to check on Amer, he was found collapsed in his cell. Amer had lost 80 pounds during his 2 months in the prison.

After he was taken to the military hospital near the end of November, the diagnosis revealed that Amer had Epstein-Barr-Virus (EBV) related lymphoma cancer. Since he was not given any treatment nor medication until the end of January, his cancer progressed rapidly to stage 4B Lymphoma. Amer then spent the remaining time in an unsanitary hospital with no proper treatment. After tremendous pressure from the U.S government, Amer was finally released on March 19, 2020. When Fakhoury returned he was treated at one of the best Cancer Centers in the area, Dana Farber, however his cancer was so severe that he died five months after his return.

Amer was not given a fair trial during his imprisonment. None of the accusations against him held any evidence and the court dismissed all evidence that proved Amer’s innocence. The torture he faced was also dismissed in the Lebanese court. Amer went to Lebanon weighing 225 pounds with a healthy medical record. He returned from Lebanon weighing 150 pounds and fighting stage 4B aggressive lymphoma cancer. An innocent man died due to the injustice that he faced. If it wasn’t for his family that took every opportunity they could find to share Amer’s story publicly, and the lawyers that risked their lives in Lebanon to work on Amer’s case, Amer would have died in Lebanon and not seen his family one last time.